Source: TH
Context: ISRO’s satellites, under the CROP framework, have forecasted India’s wheat production at 122.724 million tonnes across eight major wheat-growing States for the Rabi season 2024-25.
About Comprehensive Remote Sensing Observation on Crop Progress (CROP):
- What it is? A semi-automated, scalable remote sensing framework developed to monitor crop sowing, growth, and harvesting stages in near real-time.
- Developed by: National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- Objective:
- To enable systematic, timely, and scalable monitoring of agricultural crops using satellite data.
- To provide accurate crop condition assessments supporting early agricultural planning and food security strategies.
- Features:
- Satellite Sources: Utilizes Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from satellites like EOS-04 (RISAT-1A), EOS-06 (Oceansat-3), and Resourcesat-2A.
- Spatial Mapping: Monitors wheat distribution across 8 lakh hectares in major wheat-producing states.
- Crop Simulation Models: Integrates sowing dates, crop area, and in-season condition using 5×5 km spatial resolution.
- Multi-Source Data Fusion: Enhances estimation precision by combining optical and radar observations.
- Significance:
- Boosts Agri-Policy Making: Supports the Ministry of Agriculture in real-time agricultural monitoring.
- Improves Food Security: Early yield estimation helps manage food stock and procurement planning.
- Disaster Management: Aids in drought, flood, and pest impact assessments.
- Advances Technology Use: Promotes space-based precision agriculture and remote sensing integration in farm management.
